Byron Saxton
In October 2009, the SmackDown color commentator, Jim Ross, suffered a Bell's palsy attack, resulting in a shuffle of the other commentators. Matt Striker was moved from ECW to SmackDown, and Saxton was called up to ECW as a commentator, working alongside Josh Mathews. He debuted on the October 27 episode He continued commentating until February 2010, when Vince McMahon announced that ECW was to be replaced with NXT. On the third season finale of NXT on November 30 it was announced that Saxton would be competitor on season four, with Chris Masters as his mentor. He made his in-ring debut on the December 14 episode of NXT, teaming with Masters in a loss to Brodus Clay and his mentor, Ted DiBiase. Earlier that night, Saxton won the karaoke challenge, earning a point towards immunity from elimination. He earned his first win on the following episode when he teamed with Masters and WWE diva Natalya to defeat Clay, DiBiase, and Maryse in a six-person mixed tag team match. On January 4, 2011 episode of NXT, Dolph Ziggler became Saxton's new Pro, after Ziggler won a battle royal to earn the right to choose a new rookie and he chose Saxton. On the February 8 episode of NXT, Saxton was eliminated. In March 2011, Saxton was selected as one of the six former NXT contestants to return to the show in its fifth season, NXT Redemption. During this season, Saxton was mentored by Yoshi Tatsu. On the April 26 Edition of NXT, Saxton attacked Tatsu after he cost him the match against Lucky Cannon. Going into late May 2011, he began referring to himself as "Big League" Byron Saxton, believing that he is bigger than the NXT Rookies and the WWE Pros, turning heel. On the following week (the last day of May), Saxton was voted off of NXT Redemption. Byron Saxton made his return as the play-by-play commentator for the relaunched NXT on the May 17, 2012 taping at Full Sail University. Later on he would become the NXT ring announcer. Saxton continued to perform as a commentator for NXT until the December 23, 2015 episode of the show. On January 27, 2014, Saxton made his Raw debut on the WWE App. Three days later on January 30 he appeared alongside Tom Phillips as a commentator on WWE Superstars. On the February 10, 2014 edition of Raw, Saxton conducted a backstage interview with Sheamus and was announced as the newest member of the WWE announce team by Michael Cole. Saxton continued to announce on NXT as a heel, while simultaneously appearing neutral on the main roster. On the May 13, 2014 episode of Main Event, Saxton was attacked by Alicia Fox after she lost her match to Emma. On January 8, 2015, it was announced that Saxton would join the announce team on WWE SmackDown ''and by Fastlane he was called "the voice" of the show. On the March 30, 2015 edition of ''Raw, the night after WrestleMania 31, Saxton and Jerry Lawler filled in for Michael Cole, JBL, and Booker T after they were brutally assaulted by Brock Lesnar. From the June 8 episode of Raw, Saxton filled in on commentary for Booker T, who would be one of the coaches on the sixth season of WWE Tough Enough, with Jimmy Uso filling in for Saxton on SmackDown. In July, Saxton would become the new host of the WWE Network show, Tough Talk, replacing former host The Miz, who would become the new judge on Tough Enough after Hulk Hogan was released. After Tough Enough ended, Saxton was kept on as Raw announcer permanently and Booker T switched to the SmackDown announce team. In December 2015, Saxton left the NXT announce team and rejoined the SmackDown announce team along with Mauro Ranallo, replacing Booker T and Rich Brennan. Saxton left the SmackDown announce team in July 2016 and became exclusive to the Raw announce team following the 2016 WWE Draft, performing as a face commentator in contrast to Corey Graves' heel commentary. Saxton's character is often bullied by villainous characters, including Graves, John "Bradshaw" Layfield and Kevin Owens and, occasionally, by fellow babyface commentator, Michael Cole. On April 10, after Raw went off-air, it was announced that Saxton was traded to the SmackDown brand in exchange for David Otunga. In early October 2019, as part of SmackDown's debut on Fox, Saxton and Tom Phillips were replaced on SmackDown commentary by Graves and Michael Cole. Saxton would then commentate exclusively for WWE Main Event. On January 27, 2020, Saxton returned to the Raw commentary booth along with Tom Phillips and Jerry Lawler.Category:Raw Superstars